


The cause and effects when life interferes

by cutebutpsyco



Series: Endgame Countdown [23]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Both Tony and Stephen are stubborn, Hurt Tony Stark, Idiots in Love, M/M, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, and self sacrificing idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-25 15:17:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18577126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutebutpsyco/pseuds/cutebutpsyco
Summary: “What happened?” Nic asked, and all Stephen could do was shaking his head.“It’ll be easier explain this to Christine, but the short version is that he’s an idiot and pushed me away while I could have stopped that fucking beam of energy,” He knew he was speaking more with Tony than with Nic. The man didn’t really understand what was going on, but Tony knew it. And he had to be a self-sacrificing idiot!





	The cause and effects when life interferes

**Author's Note:**

> An anon on tumblr asked: _Can i prompt you. Tony got hurt protecting stephen. Stephen got mad and tony just dont know what he did wrong. Thanks!!_  
>  I love hurt Tony and I'd like to be able to write about him on more simile occasions, considering that a lot of people asked this on tumblr. 
> 
> As always, nothing belongs to me. Title from "Atlas: Sorrow" by Sleeping At Last. Not beta-d.

“Christine!” Stephen ran out of the portal yelling his best friend and without even caring about the fact that, at the other side of the gateway, the noises from the battles were streaming through the hallways of the ER. “Christine!” 

Instead of Christine, another of Stephen’s old acquaintance appeared in front of him. Nic West had never been one of Stephen’s favourite people in the world, but after being sure that he wasn’t dating Christine and after having spoken with him, they could bear the other’s presence and they were on speaking terms. 

“Stephen?” He asked, looking at the man not still completely sure about how to approach the other man while he was in his full Sorcerer attire - and Stephen did everything in his power to make sure to meet him only when he was wearing his robes. The Cloak, despite how anxious it was, waved at him. The surgeon decided to ignore the fact for the moment and Stephen was glad of that. “What’s wrong?” 

“Internal bleeding, probably a punctured lung but I can’t tell it right now,” Stephen said, directing toward the hallway where Steve was waiting for him to fetch a doctor. Tony was lying on his side, trying to push away the concerned Captain while coughing his lungs out. The moment Steve saw Stephen going back with Nic and nodding at him, he jumped back through the portal, leaving the three men alone for a while. 

“What happened?” Nic asked, and all Stephen could do was shaking his head.

“It’ll be easier explain this to Christine, but the short version is that he’s an idiot and pushed me away while I could have stopped that fucking beam of energy,” He knew he was speaking more with Tony than with Nic. The man didn’t really understand what was going on, but Tony knew it. And he had to be a self-sacrificing idiot!

“Stephen, speak medicine, your heroic translator is in an operation room right now!”

Stephen nodded a moment later. He wasn’t one to get lost in too many explanations, usually, but speaking and ranting and, especially yelling at Tony were things that he did daily with his boyfriend, and now he was completely panicking because he had seen enough people dying for the very same injuries he was presenting. 

He repeated, more calmly, what he told before to the other doctor and then, all he could do was to wait while the love of his life was in the hands of a man he spent half of his career to scorn. And he had to go back on the field because he couldn’t simply stay there and wait, because the Avengers needed him in the first place, and because he couldn’t let Tony’s stupid, stupid move get lost for anything. 

No, he couldn’t think like Tony was already gone, he wasn’t, he couldn’t be. He just had to trust Nic and while he wasn’t the first person he wanted to safe Tony, he knew he could be trusted. So he fought, he fought as his own life depended on it, and maybe he over-used his magic because, once he cast the demon in the dimension it came from, not only his hands but his entire body was shaking. 

“Doc?” Steve asked, the moment the leftovers of the magic overused started to dissipate and the others could approach him without getting hit but it. Stephen raised his eyes to look at the cerulean ones of the Captain. 

“He’s on an operation table right now” He answered, before looking to the others and opening a portal. He knew Natasha followed him, but she stayed silent and Stephen was grateful for that. The others would probably reach Metro Hospital in more conventional ways. 

\--

“You are a fucking idiot!” Stephen stormed into the room where Tony was now resting. Nic told him that he stopped the internal bleeding to find that the lung wasn’t punctured, but four of Tony’s ribs were broken and he had a concussion on top of everything. He needed as much rest as he could get and Strange was more than happy to accomplish on that simple request. 

“What did I do wrong?” Tony asked, and he was sincerely surprised by the other’s outburst. 

“You put yourself in front of that freaking stream of energy and ended up in a hospital bed!” 

“Yeah, I know what I did,” Tony said, and if his voice was something to go with, he was clearly in pain. Stephen felt like he didn’t have any right to be angry at him, but Tony didn’t have any right to get hit for him, he didn’t have any right to make him so worried. “Steph, you are starting to look like Carol and Thor’s lovechild.”

Fuck, his magic was starting to be sensitive to his feelings, thank you so much the fact that he was worried for Tony’s life. And, apparently, he now didn’t realize that his powers were slippering out of his control. He could feel it tackling against his fingers, the electricity and the shining of it in the air around them. 

“Sorry,” He said, in a whisper, trying to calm down even if he knew he couldn’t, not for real, not until he would have had the confirmation that his boyfriend wasn’t going to do that again. And he knew Tony, he knew he would never stop. But, at the same time, he also knew that he didn’t have any right to do it. Because Stephen was exactly the same. He lowered his glance, just to be sure that his shaking hands weren’t sparkling any longer. “I thought I’d lost you.”

It was the first time he said that loud. When he left the battlefield with Steve, telling everyone he just needed to look for help he didn’t exactly know the extent of his injuries but he knew they weren’t small things either. Tony’s whiskey brown eyes raised on him, huge and worried. 

“It was hitting you in the back, I couldn’t…” Tony looked at him and his eyes filled with tears. Stephen wanted to go over and kiss him madly, making him understand that he was worried because he loved him and that he wanted to be the person who would have protected him in every moment. He couldn’t say that he wouldn’t have done the same. Because he would. “I trust you to take care of yourself, I didn’t do that for that reason -”

“You wanted to protect me,” Stephen answered, nodding. If the roles were inverted, he would have put himself between the attack and Tony, and he wasn’t invincible or immortal either. They were just humans. “I know that Tony, and I won’t and can’t ask you to stop. I’m just worried about how easily you threw yourself to me. I don’t want to have to seat by your lifeless body, the next time.”

Tony nodded, and this time he tried to reach Stephen’s hand, squeezing it the moment he made contact. It was their way to tell the other they were still alive and breathing, and they would have kick asses sooner than later. “I’ll be more careful, and then Steve told me I’m too short for being an effective shield.”

Stephen knew it was a lie, the first part, at least, and he knew that Tony told him about Steve’s words just because he wanted to bring the conversation somewhere else, though he couldn’t help himself from smiling and rolling his eyes, squeezing back Tony’s hand. “I love you, but you still are an idiot.”

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments make me super happy, also I've almost finished this series and I actually have one fic per day and I can't believe this! 
> 
> **do you want to prompt me or to say hi?** find me on [tumblr](http://ironstrange-is-the-endgame.tumblr.com/).


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